Themes are a packaged set of user interface elements that enable a user experience to be focused around a dominant idea or “motif”. For example, a background image, background colors, ring tone, icons, and other features of the cell phone user interface may be unified by a theme. Themes may be focused around popular stars, characters, ideas such as nature, music, etc, or any other unifying motif.
In the prior art, the user could browse themes on a web page. The user could then purchase a theme, either by paying directly on the web page or by having it billed to the user's cell phone account. A notification is sent to the user's cellular phone, which triggers a connection to a web page using WAP (wireless access protocol). A client-side theme application—which executes on the client's device—then applies the theme to the user's handheld device. In one embodiment, the client-side theme application is a heavy-weight application that is used for applying the theme and removing the theme.